Posted by Jonathan Kidder on March 28, 2019December 30, 2020

How to become a professional recruiter with no experience? Is a common question that many people have searched for within Google. I wanted to highlight my experience as a recruiter and how I gained experience throughout my career.

I’ve been recruiting for almost a decade in several niche industries. Like most recruiters I fell into recruiting by accident. There’s no recruiting degree that one can pursue at a liberal arts college. I went to school for communication and marketing. I knew that I enjoyed talking to people but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after I graduated.

I decided that during my junior year I would pursue several non-paid internships. I ended up working 5-6 internship projects at various companies throughout the Twin Cities market in 2009. Companies were still recovering from the recession and were eager to hire a free intern. What I took away from my experience was that I enjoyed working on projects independently, I was quick to find resources online, and that I was tech savvy and could use the lingo fairly well when talking to coworkers. Looking back, all the things that I enjoyed about my day to day work duties correlated to the recruiting field.

After I graduated from Bethel University and took a job as a marketing specialist at a company called Allegis Group. They assigned me to an RPO account at the Best Buy headquarters. I was able to work on several employer branding projects. They had me sit right next to the recruiters and I would listen to their conversations on a daily basis. Once I heard about talent sourcing and the need for attracting talent I was hooked. I fell head first right into the recruiting field from that point on. I was not necessarily successful right away but I enjoyed the ride and I was able to fail forward. If you love something you will become driven to succeed no matter the cost.

Below are some suggestions on becoming a professional recruiter in North America, gathered from my years of experience.

How do you become a recruiter?

If you are still in school I recommend reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn. Ask to speak with them for a quick call, and have them talk about their day to day work duties. Come prepared to ask questions. They may also give you suggestions on which agencies are hiring junior level recruiters or sourcers locally. Here’s the difference between a sourcer and recruiter role (here).

How can I get started?

I always recommend applying for a role at a recruiting agency. You will learn the foundational skills and what it takes to be successful in the field. They offer excellent training courses and mentorship programs to get you started. If you’re in need of training I offer personalized training over zoom chat (here).

What soft skills sets or personality traits should I have?

Are you open to talking? Do you enjoy being around people and feel pumped afterwards? I would say being an extrovert helps a lot. I average 3-4 screen calls per day. I think one of the reasons that I am successful is that I find joy in connecting and building relationships with others. I wrote a post about improving on technical phone screens (here).

Are you more introverted? That’s okay too — if you love to search online maybe a more behind the scenes Talent Sourcing role would be better suited for your abilities. If you enjoy doing the research then this is a great career for you.

What skill sets or education are needed?

No, you do not need to attend college to become a recruiter. Having a bachelors degree will allow you have more opportunities. Also, many agencies value applicants who have participated in sports or business related studies in school.

Do I need to be certified in order to recruit certain niches?

Not necessarily. If you are recruiting a certain niche, you can educate yourself and you can take courses on that topic. The more specialized you become the more in demand you will be.

How to stay successful long term

You can be successful if you are open to accomplishing weekly and monthly goals, if you are open to working longer than 40 hours per week, and if you are willing to dedicate hours of your life to sourcing and searching online for talent. If you are goal driven, you will be successful in the long term. If you are new to the craft I recommend finding a mentor.

It takes a lot of effort in order to be successful at recruiting. I would say the average college grad who gets into recruiting leaves the industry within their first 3 years. It’s a challenging place to stay long term if you are not fully committed to the lifestyle.

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Jonathan Kidder

With more than 12 years of recruitment experience, Jonathan has helped startups and small businesses find the talent they need. He runs the blog WizardSourcer, which explores the latest trends in talent sourcing, provides reviews of recruitment tools, and features interviews with prominent figures in the industry.